Please Don't Make Me Cry
by Emeline
Summary: 17 years ago, underground scientists infused five human embryos with elemental power. Their experiments escaped. Faced with exposure, they send the shintennou, killing machines, to dispose of them. No one counted on love as an obstacle. AU Sen/Gen


"VENUS!"

I swung my head over to the source of the irritated/worried/terrified/you're-an-idiot cry, fearing the worst as I searched for the familiar face of my raven-haired companion.

If she had gotten herself into some kind of trouble again, I was going to kill her. I don't care what they say about effective leadership being about kindness and such. I'd been doing it for three years without any help, mind you, and the surest way to keep that girl alive was to beat her into submission. Strike with a blunt object, fist, empty cocktail glass, whatever does the trick. I like to keep things simple 'round here.

Strips of blonde cascaded in my eyes just before I managed to catch a glimpse of her panicked amethyst-colored gaze (stupid hair. I needed to hack off an inch or two here in the near future if I didn't want my glossy follicles to be the death of me). She was giving me the look that indicated that she knew that I knew I was doing something incredibly stupid.

Our definitions of stupid, however, vary dramatically. If I jump into the thick of battle and save everyone's butts while looking like the heroic genius that I am, thank you very much, I'd call it, well, _heroic_.

She, on the other hand, would probably comment not too kindly on my selfish, brainless, and utterly reckless behavior while casually suggesting that I abdicate my place at the head to someone more qualified unless I wanted to burn half my face off (again). Someone say, like, her. Right. If she could save the world while running in orange stilettos, she deserved to be in some kind of leadership position.

Doing drastic things may sound a little soap opera-ish, but it comes with the territory, you know? At the moment, though, there were no raging fires on twenty-story buildings to plunge in to and save the sobbing orphans trapped inside. As far as I knew, everyone was relatively safe.

"VENUS!"

Finally I stopped twirling and just turned around. "If you'd stop yelling my name and actually explain things to me, Mars, I'd at least have—"

Suddenly I was flat on my back, staring up at the blue sky. It wasn't such a bad position to lounge about and admire the lovely spring weather, minus the bruise forming on my cheek or the bloodlust now flowing freely in my veins. Note to self: admire the sky when you have the time. Oh, and also wait for the genetic freaks to stop following you. It's really irritating when someone hits you in the face from behind.

I leapt to my feet in a matter of nanoseconds, utilizing years of martial arts experience I'd been born with. To all you disciplined, wholesome children out there enrolled in such classes: no, it is not fair that you must really spend those years working your tail off and I came fresh from the test tube with a black belt. Not fair at all. But I'm serious when I say I need to know how to flip things three times my size a lot more than you do.

I threw all my weight into that sucker, emitting a stream of curse words that really have no place in this darling little paragraph. Needless to say, at my height and my weight, the youma before me shouldn't have moved much at all. Oh, but it did. I guess being genetically enhanced (even if it is with the power of love… we'll debate about the validity of this element in some later chapter) has its benefits.

With a low groan and a snap from its rib cage that instantly brightened my day, it fell to the ground, steam hissing from its tangled wires. The idiots that sent these lumbering robots we affectionately called youmas never learned. Apparently psycho rocket scientists still don't understand that artificial intelligence can't really compete with instinctual fighting techniques. I don't need a PhD. to explain that one.

Scientists: 0. Amazingly sexy beast with genetic enhancements: infinity.

I did a quick scan and spotted Mercury sporting a really nasty bloody nose as she fought off a youma with one hand over her face to stem the flow. She seemed to be doing moderately well. Jupiter was repeatedly punching her opponent that had been victim to one of her well-place kicks at least five minutes ago for good measure, I assumed. Mars was dashing agilely between two with flames dancing about her wrists. Get this: I actually pitied them for about half a second. At least she'd make it fast. Moon was doing what she did best—blubbering in the corner like the kid she was.

_Those are my girls_, I thought as I smiled to myself.

I was surprised that they'd only sent five this time to take us out. They knew we could easily take out a good hundred or so between all of us. What, did I miss the mutant freak holiday or something? I had forgotten to glance at the imaginary calendar that I owned this morning… that would make sense…

"Venus, can you help?" came a muffled plea. I stopped over to help Mercury finish off the last of her guy, an ugly-looking thing that resembled a cross between the orcs from _The Lord of the Rings_ and a primate that hadn't made it all the way through evolution.

Charming.

"Jupiter, you can stop hitting it now. It's dead," I said flatly as Jupiter landed another useless but completely amazing drop kick on its face. "Besides, Doctor Merc here needs some Jupiter-lovin'".

Jupiter cracked her fingers once more before switching over instantly into soft, totally loveable mom mode. It was one of my favorite things about her. I may be self-proclaimed leader, but she was definitely the caretaker of the group. If I had been in charge of things like cooking, the scientists wouldn't have needed to create any youma. I would have killed my friends long before with food poisoning.

Mercury may have been our makeshift doctor, but it was Jupiter who doled out the amazing bear hugs after a particularly grueling battle. I was always up for Jupiter-lovin'.

"Here," my auburn-haired friend daintily pressed a handkerchief against our resident bluenettes' nose. "It should stop bleeding soon."

Mercury, who had been studying medical books since she could read at the age of six months for reasons fun-loving blondes like me do their very best to NOT understand, probably knew this, but she refrained from commenting and smiled instead. I don't know how anyone could help smiling when Jupiter was so dang gentle and such. Me? Couldn't do that. I could, however, smile with all my teeth missing and blood gushing from mortal wounds. Let's see Jupiter do that.

"I don't get it," Mars said, suddenly next to me.

I jumped a good thirty feet in the air. "Would you please quit that?!" I groaned, my heart pumping a bajillion beats a minute.

"Quit what?" she asked in a would-be innocent voice, brushing the last of some youma dust from her shirt.

"You know what," I grumbled, trying hard to get my adrenaline spike under control. Who in their right mind gave Mars the power to be practically invisible? She abused it, I tell you. Abused it.

"I don't get it," she repeated. "They know five is well below our capabilities. What is this, some kind of a trick? I can't feel an aura of anything. It's freaking me out."

I nodded in agreement. If Mars couldn't feel anything, I knew we were in trouble. There wasn't much those scientists could get past us, especially with the sensory stuff they had implanted into my friend here. Brought about their own downfall, you could say. But lately, things had been getting past her with ease. It wasn't that they were any more powerful or that Mars was any less powerful—none of us, Mercury included, could figure out how they were blocking her. They'd never done it before, and we all knew they had the technological capability long before. So why now?

"I'm scared," Moon clung to my leg, blue eyes wide.

I patted her aborable four-year-old buns and tried not to look as scared as I felt. "It's going to be ok. We'll protect you, Moon. Nothing's going to happen to us, all right?"

It was only half true, but people say things like that all the time to their kids. Moon was my baby, my little girl. I would die trying to save that little odango-haired tyke without hesitation. So with the parental love came the parental lies.

"Venus."

This time I was ready, throwing Moon away from me as youma body slammed me from every side. Another dozen or so took advantage of the pile of their friends on top of me and decided to join the party. Wonderful.

I gritted my teeth and screamed silently as the lot of them ripped into my flesh, hair, clothing, anything they could get their hands on. There were too many. Too many for fists.

"Venus Crescent Beam!"

Yellow energy encased me, exploding with an incomparable power. The youma went flying—all fifty of them lying dead on the ground when I could finally stand. I held my head and groaned. Everything was spinning, my legs felt like they had been ripped off. A dull, throbbing pain erupted behind my eyes.

I couldn't see a thing. I closed my eyes, hoping to catch snippits of voices, feet, anything that meant everyone was still ok. Still alive. Instead, I was met with a non too reassuring silence.

"Mars? Mercury? Jupiter? Moon?" my voice was raspy, but still loud enough to carry.

No answer.

I pounded the ground with my fist. _Don't do this to me, guys. Don't do this to me!_

"MARS?! MERCURY?! JUPITER?! MOON?!"

"Venus."

This time I heard it. Really heard it, I mean. A voice, sweet, silken, and oddly persuasive, calling my name. A distinctly male voice. It was then that I realized it had been him before, calling my name. Mars didn't sound a thing like him…

My eyes cracked open for the briefest moment, taking in a chillingly cold face adorned with hair so light it looked silver. My brain went dead. And then it hit panic mode.

The Shintennou. Kunzite. _Crrrrrraaaaaaaaaaaaaaaappppp._

I was done for.

I saw him lift his arm to take me out, a half-grin on his face just before everything went black.

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By now, you're probably wondering, _what the eff, Venus? You talked about being a heroic genius before. You're the leader of genetically enhanced experiments! How could you fail so easily?_

Let's backtrack for a sec.

Before you jump to accusations, I'd like to point out that no leader is infallible, even with my rocking skills. Besides, it wasn't my fault that a band of crazed-scientists were after me every second of every day, waiting for me to trip up. You'd be pretty surprised what you can and can't do when your life is threatened on a close to 24/7 basis.

_But wait, what was that about you being a test tube creation a few paragraphs back? Aren't these half-crazed scientists that you hate_ _so much responsible for giving you life? _

Yes, and yes. They did create me, a little embryo infused with intense physical characteristics and the power of love. They created me to fulfill a purpose, one purpose alone. Protect the Moon Queen Serenity. Whatever that means. I'd never even met the woman. But whoever she is, my friends and I decided we didn't want to stick around and be constantly experimented on with less-than-ethical standards. We escaped. After living my entire fourteen years of life in a secret lab, I ran away.

So now here I was, leader of the group after being on the run for three years. They decided pretty soon after we escaped that they'd rather dispose of their most successful experiment than compromise their identity. Hence, the rather frequent run-in with youma. But after a couple months of this ridiculous cycle, they caught on. They'd made us to be unstoppable. So now they had to create the unbeatable to stop us.

The Shintennou.


End file.
